Understanding Lightning Protection

by Bill Laudeman - reprinted with permission from

"Seaworthy, the Boat/U.S. Marine Insurance and Damage Avoidance Report"

Over the past couple of hundred years, as science has learned more about the
nature of nature, lots of folks have tried to find ways to protect their homes and
businesses against damage from lightning. But even after Ben Franklin's famous
kite proved that lightning is an electrical force, and discoveries by such famous
scientists as Volta, Ampere, Ohm, and others, lightning still remains something of
a mystery. And we are still looking for ways to minimize damage.

Several years ago, while preparing an

article on "Lightning Protection
Systems"( Practical Sailor, December
1993), I interviewed one of the
engineers responsible for preventing
lightning damage to the U.S.'s largest
power utility, the Tennessee Valley
Authority, plus others at firms making
lightning damage prevention systems
for high-risk operations such as
petroleum refineries and tank farms.
The conclusions reached were fairly
simple, and within a short time after the
article was published, advertisements
began to appear for devices called ion
dissipators, like those previously
offered only in high-tech industrial
systems. These are stainless steel wire
brushes, typically about two inches in
diameter and about eight inches long.
You can buy a similar brush for a few
dollars from a supplier of dairy cleaning
equipment; the ions probably can't tell
the difference, but you will have to build
your own mount.
Although there remains some controversy
about how well the Lightning Protection
Systems (LPS) function, there is little or no
argument about the fundamentals of good
lightning protection:
(1) It is better to avoid being struck in the first
place, but
(2) if
b td
t hit
ill ff l

In practical terms, it comes down to

this: If I were a boater in Florida's
"lightning alley", I'd make sure the boat
was well grounded. One way to do this
is make a grounding plate from 1-1/2"
to 2" wide bare copper grounding strap,
as long as can be fitted below the
waterline, epoxied to the hull exterior.
As an alternative, make a "buss bar"
using 1-1/2" - 2" copper strip under the
boat running from the base of the mast
to the engine or, another alternative,
several square feet of copper sheet
epoxied to the hull, with a substantial
grounding lug extending into the bilges
directly below the main LPS cable
(which, in turn, leads straight to the air
terminal). If it were not feasible to run
this cable - 4 AWG is a good conductor
- straight down the masthead to the
bilge, I'd make up a jumper cable long
enough to reach from the overhead to
the bilge, to be clipped in place when a
storm threatened. This means that
access must be provided to the cable,
where it enters the cabin overhead, and
to the ground lug with sturdy (bare!)
connection points to which you can
clamp the jumper. Do you think that this
is too much trouble? Ask someone
whose boat has been struck.

damage if the strike is grounded as directly as

possible. With these basics in mind, let's review
and reiterate some general science that every
boat owner can

FACT: Lightning strikes are radio

frequency (RF) events. It is true that
the build-up of energy is a direct
current (DC) phenomenon, and the
current flowing during a strike is
unidirectional, but as each spark starts
and stops, a great deal of high

An important note about the dra

wi
ng. T
hings are a bit difference with a sailboat
with a mast. The mast offers a cone of
protection which basically protects
occupants and offers more o
f a dissipation for the lightning down the
rigging. Some experts feel a sailboat has
about an equal chance with or without the
described ground plate.

and should understand so that he or she can

make the best use of the devices that are being
sold. Armed with a few facts, you can better
analyze your boat's lightning risk and make the
best LPS installation or improve your present
protection.

FACT: It is better to avoid being struck

so you do not want to "attract" a strike
to any part of your boat. The power of a
direct strike is likely to heavily damage
anything in its path and nearby
electronics will suffer corollary damage
from a side-effect of the strike, the
magnetic pulse. Therefore, I suggest
that the primary goal of an LPS must
be to allow the accumulating "ground
charge" (the buildup of energy in the
earth or sea below a thunderstorm) to
drain away at a low voltage level and to

frequency RF power is generated. This is why

you can hear distant lightning storms on your
AM radio-and when a strike does hit your boat,
everything in the path of the strike becomes
part of a wildly varying, enormously complex
network of tuned RF elements. What you may
find hard to believe is that a length of solid
metal conductor is a perfect insulator at certain
RF wavelengths. This may cause very high
voltages to appear between two points
(perhaps several feet apart) on a mast, a wire,
or a length of metal trim. These voltages are
the source of a sometimes deadly effect called
"side flashes" that flicker between various parts
of a boat - and its occupants.

To avoid becoming part of a side flash,

you should understand the second
purpose of the LPS; martyrdom (selfsacrifice).
When the LPS fails to pre ent a strike

prevent the initiation of a strike. This is

what the "ion discharge" or "dissipator"
air terminals are designed to do. For
these to be effective, however, they
must be part of a well-designed
system.
FACT: No LPS is any better than it
worst component. Although the most
obvious part of an LPS is the air
terminal (or dissipator) mounted atop
the rigging, it actually starts with the
water beneath the boat. What is
needed is the best possible ground so
that the charge building up in the water
can get to the air terminal. You can
guarantee the best ground by having a
bare metal hull.
Oh well, so much for the best. What's
second best?
Second best is to have many square
feet of metal wetted by the water. If this
is still a problem, it is possible that
connecting all underwater metal
through-hull fittings to the LPS may be
helpful, but you run the substantial risk
of having a fitting blown apart in a
strike, leaving a big hole in the hull of
your boat.

it must sacrifice itself in such a manner

as to best prevent damage to the boat
and its occupants. You encourage this
vital role of the LPS by visualizing the
path(s) that a lightning strike might
take, then make the LPS conductor the
one path that is as short, as straight
and as low in resistance as possible.
Then, during any lightning threat, you
and your crew should stay as far away
from this "favored" path as you can.
If you've done a good job on these
basics, from ground plate to conductor
to air terminal, and if you keep as far
from the primary protection conductor
as possible, then you've taken practical
steps to guard against one of nature's
mightiest forces.
Only one more suggestion: monitor
weather reports and avoid being caught
out in a thunderstorm!
Copper straps, bars, and plates designed for
lightning protection are available from
Thompson Lightning Protection, (612)4557661.

Bill Laudeman spent more than 30 years working as an industrial technologist

and engineering project manager before becoming a marine surveyor. He has
published his first book, Sailboat Wiring
Cone of Protection from Lightning - Faraday's Cage

This
spring
seems
to have
brought
the most
extreme
weather
in
history.
With heavy thunderstorms
you will
often find lightning. Lightning
on the
water can bring life-threatening circumstances. For your safety and the safety of
others boating with you we have updated and are republishing this article on
Lightning Protection.
Capt. Matt

Even though the odds are in your favor that your boat may
never be hit by lightning, if it happens it can have devastating
effects. Don't take a chance, protect yourself. If you are in a
small boat and close to shore when a thunderstorm
approaches, get in and off the water immediately. Better yet,
don't go out if thunderstorms are predicted. But what if you are
miles offshore and a storm pops up? Hopefully, you have prepared in advance.
The voltages involved in lightning are so high that even materials that would
normally be considered non-conductive become conductors, including the
human body. The voltages are so massive that if they start to travel through a
boat's structure - say through its mast - then meet with high resistance (for
instance, the hull skin) the current discharge, in its attempt to reach ground,
may simply blow a hole in the non-conductive barrier. The safety conscious
Captain should make sure that his vessel is properly protected. Reference
should be made in detail to the standards for lightning protection as set forth
by the American Boat and Yacht Council (ABYC) and the job should be
performed by a licensed marine electrician.
In theory, a lightning protection system is used to create what is know as a
"Faraday's cage," so called after the late nineteenth-century scientist Michael
Faraday. The principle of a Faraday's cage is to provide a surrounding, wellgrounded, metal structure, in which all of parts are bonded together and carry
the same electrical potential. Such a "cage" attracts and carries any lightning
strike to ground much like lightning rods on buildings. In other words, you
need to provide an unobstructed way for the lightning to dissipate its energy to
ground (the water surrounding you). Faraday himself risked his own life to
prove this theory. The additional benefit of a lightning protection system is that
it tends to bleed off any charge build-up in the general vicinity, possibly
averting a lightning strike in the first place.
So how does a lightning protection system work?
In a boat, the "cage" is formed by bonding
together, with heavy conductors, the vessel's mast
and all other major metal masses. A marine
electrician must tie in the engines, stoves, air
conditioning compressors, railings, arches etc.
with a low resistance wire which would ultimately
provide a conductive path to ground (the water)
usually via the engine and propeller shaft, keel

or wooden boats it is advantageous to have a

mast or other conductive metal protrusion
extending well above the vessel, creating what is
known as a "cone" or zone of protection.
It is generally accepted that this cone of
protection extends 45 degrees, all around, from
the tip of the metal protrusion. This means that if
the aluminum mast of the average sailing vessel is
properly bonded to the vessel's other major metal
masses and is given a direct, low-resistance conductive path to ground, the
entire boat should fall within the protected zone. If the vessel has a wooden or
composite mast, a marine electrician can achieve the same effect by installing
a 6 to 12 inch metal spike at the top and running a heavy conductor down the
mast and as directly as possible to ground, usually through the engine and
propeller shaft.
Again, refer to the ABYC standards and have a professional marine electrician
install your lightning protection. This is not a do-it-yourself project.